This was me and my sister on the flight out, while leafing through the many, many places to eat listed in our guide book: “Ooh, well we’re having breakfast in our hotel, but we could have brunch at one, then a late lunch, then afternoon tea, then dinner, so we could try about eight restaurants if we have dinner in the hotel tonight, and we do want to try that.”

This was us on our last day: “Well, we’re having breakfast here, so if we head over to Palais Rhoul for a late lunch and have a really big one then we can just have a few of the pastries we’ve bought when we get back as we don’t want to have dinner here again.”

Don’t get me wrong, the food in Marrakech is wonderful and there are so many incredible places to eat, but...

Many of the restaurants listed are actually riads, which means that many of them will need you to book your lunch or dinner the day before so that they can go to the market and buy the food for your meal.  Even if they are ready to cater at a moment’s notice, you have to find them, and it only took me a few hours in the centre of Marrakech to remember how hard it is to find the tiny winding road you’re looking for.

The bigger hotels are a good bet if you don’t want to plan in advance, I personally loved the meal we had at Palais Rhoul & Spa; delicious olives, freshly baked bread and the usual Moroccan bowl of butter that looks more like ice cream.  The lunch menu was full of words that confused me even though I supposedly speak French.  I had biwattes to start which are Moroccan samosa-like pastries and were a selection of prawn, cheese, curried chicken and lamb.  My sister had carrot and orange soup. For a main course I had fish; saint-pierre with vegetables which was sensational.  My sister went for a beef tagine (more couscous) with 7 vegetables - I thought it was heavenly but I was kind of bored with tagines.  For dessert I had a moeulleux de chocolat - like a baked chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream which well, I don’t know to describe without it sounding very wrong, but it was good.  My sister had a farandole of ice cream - which was basically a selection of three flavours; raspberry, mango and lemon.  The first two were stunning, but the last was so strong that it tasted a bit like floor cleaner (not that I’ve tasted a lot of floor cleaner).  It was pricey at around £39 each, but with copious quantities of mint tea included and considering the quality I thought it was very good value (especially if you consider that we had about five cups of mint tea each which would have set us back about £30 altogether at Terre).  What adds to the bill of course is the service, and I have to say that I don’t think I’ve ever had such impeccable service anywhere in the world.  Yes, after a while our waiter didn’t really need to keep saying “je vous en prie” every time he left the table, but... sitting next to the colonnades and pool of the Palais Rhoul, it really was other worldly.  (And no power cuts this time!)

Speaking of service, as times were hard when we visited, we were reminded several times by waiters, and even by the lady in the patisserie “please do not forget my service/tip”.

You really can’t leave Marrakech without trying some Moroccan pastries - small, very sweet biscuits and cakes.  My favourite place to pick up some to take away is Patisserie des Princes where there are whole cases filled with different types to try.  32 rue Bab Agnaou, just a few minutes south of the Night Market.  If you miss this patisserie then there are stacks dotted around Marrakech (some of them better and cheaper than this one) where you can just point to what you want if they don’t speak English (and if you don’t speak French).

If you want to sit and enjoy a coffee with your pastries and enjoy a view of the Night Market then Cafe de France  is also fine; around 90dh (approx. £7) for two coffees and a plate of pastries on the terrace.  It’s on the north east side of Jemaa el Fnaa.

Other great things to try in Marrakech are anything baked; I’ve had some of the best pain au chocolate here.  Fish is often very good as it’s not that far from the coast, although my favourite as I keep mentioning is the lamb with pear tagine.

Many great restaurants and hotels also offer cookery courses, so that’s a great way to get to grips with Moroccan cuisine (and you know where you’re having lunch!)

In terms of drinking Morocco is meant to be a dry country, but you can still find alcohol in many hotels.  Personally I like to avoid alcohol here because I love the mint tea, and I don’t find alcohol mixes well with spa treatments, which is one of the main reasons I love Morocco.  (Just to avoid any confusion, mint tea is often referred to here as Moroccan whiskey!)

I also find that Moroccan coffee is usually strong enough to give me a kick when I want one!